Celebrating the Mid-Autumn Festival in Hong Kong

The Mid-Autumn Festival is celebrated on the 15th day of the eighth lunar month. This observance, which started as an occasion for families to celebrate the good harvest and pay homage to the moon, is now the second biggest Chinese holiday, after the Chinese New Year.

Hong Kong, with its flamboyant style and deep traditional roots, is a great destination to catch the best of Mid-Autumn celebrations. Here are our tips to get the most of the festival.

Feast on mooncakes

Mooncake Assortment

Any festival is incomplete without a feast and mooncakes are indispensable to the Mid-Autumn celebrations. The round shaped mooncakes, traditionally filled with egg yolks or lotus seed paste are said to symbolize unity and are eaten and distributed to friends and family on the festival day. For the adventurous, try out the unique and modern variation of the mooncake – with fillings ranging from martini to green tea to roast pork.

Watch the Tai Hang Fire Dragon Dance

Performed annually during the festival since the 1880s, the Tai Hang Fire Dragon Dance was said to have originated as a means to ward off a deadly plague. The incense-lit 67-metre long dragon supported by 300 performers is truly an unforgettable sight that must not be missed.

Visit the Mid-Autumn Fest in Victoria Park

Mid Autumn Festival

To get your fill of Mid-Autumn celebrations in Hong Kong, a visit to the Mid-Autumn Fest in Victoria Park is a must. See everything from lantern displays, marching band performances, Chinese ethnic Song, dance and acrobatic routines, youth band and dance showcases, magic shows, juggling displays, Cantopop showcases, folk craft demonstrations and an interesting creative market.

Photograph the colourful lantern displays

Chinese Lantern Display

The Mid-Autumn festival offers a wonderful opportunity to photograph the widest array of lanterns. While the grandest of all lanterns are on display in Victoria Park, several other places in the city also offer creative displays of lanterns. Check out the 2016 Mid-Autumn Thematic Lantern Display titled Fly Me to the Moon outside the Hong Kong Space Museum and the New Territories East Mid-Autumn Lantern Carnival 2016 at the Tai Po Waterfront Park.

Take a guided tour of the city

Lantau Island

The Mid-Autumn festival is the perfect time to take a guided tour of the city as you can see Hong Kong in grand ethnic splendor. With the entire city in a celebratory mood, it is the perfect time to admire Hong Kong’s renowned skyline, explore a floating fishing village at Aberdeen or admire the natural beauty of Lantau Island.